Eskies will test Calgary’s offence
It’s not as if the Calgary Stampeders’ offensive line needed any additional motivation, but ...
“We do not want to see the tumbling rolls, so we’re definitely going to be heads up,” chuckled Stanley Bryant. “Our job is to stop them and we’ll see how it goes.’’
The fewer the signature somersaults by the Edmonton Eskimos’ defensive linemen on Thursday night at Commonwealth Stadium means the line across from them has done its duty and kept quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell on his feet the majority of the time.
Calgary’s O-line has done that better than any other team in the league in early 2014 — conceding just three sacks in three games — but the Eskimos have combined to plunk a QB on his backside 18 times — also tops in the CFL.
To call it a challenge would be an understatement.
“You’re right, they’re going to be tested,” agreed head coach and GM John Hufnagel. “Edmonton not only has an excellent pass rush, they do a lot of scheming in their defensive line and with their secondary pressure. So we have our hands full to be able to protect the passer. But they’ve done a good job for the bulk of the three games both in the pass protection and in the run game.”
Pick your poison when it comes to someone to key on, because there isn’t one. Defensive tackle Almondo
(3-0) (4-0) 7 p.m., Commonwealth Stadium
TSN QR77 Sewell leads the league with five sacks, while ends Odell Willis and Willie Jefferson have four and three, respectively.
“They’ve got four quality passrushing D-linemen, four quality runstopping D-linemen,” said Calgary’s offensive line coach Pat DelMonaco. “They do a couple of things that complicate the front for us, so we’ve got to be poised and we’ve got to be pretty disciplined on how we approach this game.”
“They’re a great D-line,” chipped in Bryant, 28. “They’ve got the sack leader Sewell, you’ve got two good ends, you’ve got Odell who’s been around the league for a while, you’ve got 99 (Jefferson) who’s also a great pass rusher, 95 (Gregory Alexandre), 97 (Eddie Steele) ... their defence is just good.
“We’re going against the best defence at practice and now we’ve got to go against another good defence on Thursday.”
DelMonaco, in his first season mentoring Calgary’s line after four years in Winnipeg, has found this group highly teachable, notwithstanding the fact they have a sophomore in centre Brett Jones and a rookie in Brander Craighead.
“It makes them more pliable,” he acknowledged. “But at the same point, they haven’t seen these guys. Some of them have, some of them haven’t. That’s both good and bad. They’re learning through the film study. They have to figure out their tendencies and be really disciplined because they (Esks) have done a really good job of exploiting mistakes. If you watch the four games they played previous, anytime there was a mistake in technique, they exploited it. That’s one of those groups that anytime you’re wrong, they make you pay.”
For Craighead, ignorance could be bliss in the sense that he isn’t focusing specifically on reputations, but rather just good players.
“Everybody’s going to be gunning for our quarterback. T hat’s football,” the six-foot-seven, 300-pound 23-year-old guard shrugged. “The guys last week and the week before that wanted to hit our quarterback. The guys next week and three weeks from now will want to hit him. It’s our job to protect him.
“Every week is a challenge. Every opponent is going to be good. These guys have done some good things. It’s going to be a good fight for us and we’re going to show up and do our thing. Good or bad, we leave it behind and start getting ready for the next opponent.”